old car dealerships

[queenwest 3]

does anyone remember the old car dealership that sat out there on 290 north of town back in the 80s? what was its name and where did it move to?

[Urban Commando 2]

If you are meaning the one in Cypress, it was Doug Russell Chevrolet. I remember it because he, along with I.W. Marks and some young guy and his relatively new Gallery Furniture were sponsors of Houston wrestling with Paul Boesch on Saturday nights.

 

The dealership folded and I believe that Mr. Russell is no longer among us.

[queenwest 3]

thank you. its been so long ago.i just hate it when i cant remember the name of something even though i drove by it almost every day.

[FilioScotia 155]

You'll have to be a bit more specific. Between the Beltway and FM 1960 there is a near continuous string of new and used car dealerships. One right after another. Some have changed hands and names several times, and several are closed and sitting empty.

Edited August 21, 2013 by FilioScotia

[Specwriter 417]

Filio, Doug Russell Chevorlet was on old US 290 (the Hempstead Highway) not the current 290.

[FilioScotia 155]

Ah yes. The "old" 290.  Thanks.

[Specwriter 417]

Ah yes. The "old" 290.  Thanks.

IIRC it was a modest facility too. There was a carport big enough to cover about a dozen vehicles parked side by side (similar to what Star Motors on the Old Katy Road has for their used cars today) and a showroom that could probably hold three cars at most. Of course there was a service garage behind that.

[Montrose Patriot 0]

I used 2 recall watching a scene from the 1970 film Brewster McCloud where a billboard for MacRobert Chevrolet (later AJ Foyt, now the present-day Kroger Meyer Park) was advertised; some in the Montrose used 2 come across the following dealerships:

 

Auto Sports Ltd (later Dominion Jaguar) Kirby/West Alabama (where the former Borders bookstore is now located)

Mahan Volkswagen (now Momentum Audi) Kirby/Richmond

Jimmie Green Chevrolet (now the Randalls off Westheimer/S Shepherd)

River Oaks Lincoln-Mercury (now Whole Foods Market Kirby/West Alabama)

DeMontrond (later Hub) Buick (currently a strip mall Westheimer/Kirby - current DeMontrond Buick located off 45/Rankin)

Mossy (later Ray Hewitt, Rice Menger) Oldsmobile - Main/McGowen (later USA Body and Paint late 80s - 90s, now Stewart (formerly Don Massey) Cadillac; Mossy dealership moved 2 the Katy Freeway/Kirkwood in 1979 adjacent 2 the present day Mac Haik (formerly Tom Peacock) Chevrolet, now Mossy Nissan across from Westside Lexus)

Bland-Curran Cadillac (Bagby/West Gray/Webster - now Post Lofts since 1997)

Bill McDavid Oldsmobile (Gulf Freeway north of Gulfgate - later became a furniture store but site redeveloped into a Home Depot)

 

The only inner loop dealerships still in business without name changes - Tommie Vaughn Ford and Knapp Chevrolet

[Subdude 1594]

[GEM 8]

Auto Sports Ltd.:Bought a Fiat there in the mid 70s...............

[FilioScotia 155]

Thanks for that late 1950s photo of Tommie Vaughn Ford on N. Shepherd.  It was probably taken a year or two after Vaughn moved his dealership from a location on North Main to North Shepherd. 

 

I love the story of Tommie Vaughn. He was a college football hero at A&M, flew bombers in WWII, got into the car business after the war and opened a Houston dealership that's still family owned and doing business nearly 60 years later. He was also active in all kinds of civic stuff, and when he died he was one of Houston's best-loved citizens. Sadly, they don't make men like Tommie Vaughn anymore. Check out his story on their website.

 

http://tommievaughnford.com/Heritage-History/

 

I could be wrong, but I think Tommie Vaughn is the oldest car dealer in Houston, and maybe the last one that's been family owned since the beginning.

Edited November 20, 2013 by FilioScotia

[Subdude 1594]

Is the dealership building in the photo still standing?

 

 

[Ross 1525]

Is the dealership building in the photo still standing?

 

I don't think so. It looks like it was replaced by a newer building at some point. HCAD shows buildings from 1959 (service bays) on up.

 

[sevfiv 1415]

Here's a 1951 Downtown Chevrolet (later Mike Persia) rendering: http://arch-ive.org/archive/downtown-chevrolet-company/

 

 

 

 

[FilioScotia 155]

Judging from the old 1950s photo and the latest as seen on the Tommie Vaughn Ford website, the old dealership building has either been torn down and replaced, or it has had a complete makeover. I lean toward makeover.

[JLWM8609 749]

On Saturday, I was talking to a fellow who does remodeling and architecture for local dealerships. He mentioned Tommie Vaughn and said that the original building is still there underneath various layers of remodeling.

[Purpledevil 290]

Wow, Subdude! That pic of Tommie Vaughn predates my recollection. That is awesome, but where's the big towering Ford sign? That thing's been up there since I was a kid. Hadn't paid real attention to it in years since I don't live in the Heights anymore, but it used to light up at night and rotate. My older brother used to work at the Goodyear there on 11th, next to the old Wiener's.

[little frau 54]

Auto Sports Ltd.:Bought a Fiat there in the mid 70s...............

 

I bought an MGB there in the mid 70s but Auto Sports was on the Southwest Fwy then, somewhere around the Chimney Rock exit.

 

[GEM 8]

Wrecked that Fiat I did..................

Edited January 3, 2014 by GEM

[6thgentxn 2]

deleted = covered by others

Edited January 4, 2014 by 6thgentxn

[Michelle C 85]

Thanks for that late 1950s photo of Tommie Vaughn Ford on N. Shepherd.  It was probably taken a year or two after Vaughn moved his dealership from a location on North Main to North Shepherd. 

 

I love the story of Tommie Vaughn. He was a college football hero at A&M, flew bombers in WWII, got into the car business after the war and opened a Houston dealership that's still family owned and doing business nearly 60 years later. He was also active in all kinds of civic stuff, and when he died he was one of Houston's best-loved citizens. Sadly, they don't make men like Tommie Vaughn anymore. Check out his story on their website.

 

http://tommievaughnford.com/Heritage-History/

 

I could be wrong, but I think Tommie Vaughn is the oldest car dealer in Houston, and maybe the last one that's been family owned since the beginning.

 

Jack Roach Ford is the oldest Ford dealer ship in Houston. The started in either 1921 or 1923. My dad bought a new Ford from Tommy Vaughn in 1957. The dealer ship was then located on North Main, so I know it had to be after 1957 when they moved to Shepherd.

[GEM 8]

Jay Marks Chevrolet in La Porte,Tx............ :/

Edited January 31, 2014 by GEM

[mkultra25 1273]

I ran across this photo library of Houston car dealers on Photobucket while looking for a photo of the elusive Bill McDavid Oldsmobile neon sign. Some of these have been posted here before, but there are quite a few others I hadn't seen before. 

 

http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/automotivehistorian/library/Houston%20Car%20Dealers?sort=3&page=1

[iliketurtles 6]

Anyone know where the original Gay Family Pontiac was on HWY 3?

[Subdude 1594]

I ran across this photo library of Houston car dealers on Photobucket while looking for a photo of the elusive Bill McDavid Oldsmobile neon sign. Some of these have been posted here before, but there are quite a few others I hadn't seen before. 

 

http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/automotivehistorian/library/Houston%20Car%20Dealers?sort=3&page=1

 

 

Cool stuff.  Thanks for posting the link.  To me it is interesting to see how dealerships gradually migrated from downtown to the far outskirts of the city. It is hard to believe now that Kirby was once fairly heavily lined with car dealerships.

[mollusk 2421]

More Kirby:  Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile ("Sam the Rocket Man") was in the Village, and IIRC had a spaceman astride a rocket coming out of the roof over Kirby.  (sheez, now I've got the jingle stuck in my head).

[Subdude 1594]

There was an Archer Rambler on the 5000 block of Kirby by Goode Company.  I believe the dealership building is still in use.  I don't know the name of it, but I think there might have been a Lincoln-Mercury dealer close to Kirby and Alabama.

 

 

[JLWM8609 749]

There was an Archer Rambler on the 5000 block of Kirby by Goode Company.  I believe the dealership building is still in use.  I don't know the name of it, but I think there might have been a Lincoln-Mercury dealer close to Kirby and Alabama.

 

It was probably River Oaks Lincoln Mercury. I saw a nice 88-91 Mercury Grand Marquis last week that still had the River Oaks Lincoln Mercury decal on the trunklid.

[Michelle C 85]

Cool stuff.  Thanks for posting the link.  To me it is interesting to see how dealerships gradually migrated from downtown to the far outskirts of the city. It is hard to believe now that Kirby was once fairly heavily lined with car dealerships.

 

Early in the history of Houston the dealer ships seemed to be not only in the downtown area but were strung along Washington Ave. and Harrisburg and on around the curve onto Broadway. Washington Ave was old Hwy. 90 and continued on to Preston in the downtown area. Milam seemed to be heavily vested with dealerships in the downtown area, I can think of about a half dozen that was on Milam just off the top of my head.

 

[plumber2 231]

It was probably River Oaks Lincoln Mercury. I saw a nice 88-91 Mercury Grand Marquis last week that still had the River Oaks Lincoln Mercury decal on the trunklid.

Was'nt it called Snelling Mercury at one time. I seem to remember a cougar image on their logos.

[sevfiv 1415]

Yeah, Snelling Motor Co. was at 2955 Kirby which is now Whole Foods (new building). It was also Plaza Lincoln Mercury in the mid 1970s.

[Michelle C 85]

I mentioned in an earlier post that a lot of dealerships were located on Milam. I did a little checking and found that there were as many as eleven different dealership locations on Milam. Many of those locations were recycled over the years with different names like Central Pontiac later became Frank Gillman.

 

900 Milam Dow Chevrolet

1315  Meador Packard

1320 Jacoby Lincoln Mercury

1410 A. C. Burton Chrysler Plymouth

1613 Great Southwest Dodge and Plymouth

1621 Central Pontiac

1701 Southwest Chevrolet

1920 Douglas Nash

2120 Russell Smith Ford

2200 North Buick

2215 Al Parker Buick

 

 

[IronTiger 921]

I know one famously defunct 290 car dealership was Lawrence Marshall Hempstead...the road to Houston just never was the same again...

 

There was also Knapp Chevrolet near the Holiday Inn on Interstate 10, that went away during widening.  

[mollusk 2421]

Knapp Chevrolet is still where it's always been, at Houston and Washington Avenues (not that GM didn't try to kill it during the auto industry implosion), and is even building a new showroom that promises to be properly corporately execrable.  The Katy expansion took out what had been Courtesy Chevrolet back ages ago.

[Purpledevil 290]

He's thinking about Courtesy Chevrolet which was wiped out by the Katy Freeway.

77-77 Ka-ty Free-way. Courtesy Chevrolet, Open Sundays!

[mollusk 2421]

He's thinking about Courtesy Chevrolet which was wiped out by the Katy Freeway.

77-77 Ka-ty Free-way. Courtesy Chevrolet, Open Sundays!

 

Just - west - of - Post - Oak !!!

[Purpledevil 290]

Haha...hope it doesn't get stuck in your head for the remainder of the day!

...and if it doesn't, this one likely will. Yet another Chevrolet dealership that has graced the Katy Freeway service road for the better part of 40 years:

Westside Chevrolet, Ka-ty Free-way, Peek Road ex-it, Hou-ston. Westside Chevrolet, Ka-ty Free-way, Peek Road ex-it, Hou-ston.

Of course, Westside is still there, but with the death of the Peek Road exit, it was re-written in the song as "Grand Parkway exit, Katy". Now...when did the city limits for Katy change to include Peek Road and Texas 99????

[mollusk 2421]

RICH-ard-son.  Chev-ro-let.  Greatest Dealer in the Great South-west. Richardson Chev-ro-let - Southwest Freeway at Hill-croft.

 

Earworms unite.

[mkultra25 1273]

Haha...hope it doesn't get stuck in your head for the remainder of the day!

...and if it doesn't, this one likely will. Yet another Chevrolet dealership that has graced the Katy Freeway service road for the better part of 40 years:

Westside Chevrolet, Ka-ty Free-way, Peek Road ex-it, Hou-ston. Westside Chevrolet, Ka-ty Free-way, Peek Road ex-it, Hou-ston.

 

 

RICH-ard-son.  Chev-ro-let.  Greatest Dealer in the Great South-west. Richardson Chev-ro-let - Southwest Freeway at Hill-croft.

 

Earworms unite.

 

[mkultra25 1273]

I know one famously defunct 290 car dealership was Lawrence Marshall Hempstead...the road to Houston just never was the same again...

 

"Aigs and Chevrolets are cheaper in the country!"

[Purpledevil 290]

Lawrence Marshall Chevrolet, we CLOBBER big city prices!

Wasn't "Eggs and Chevrolets are 'cheep'er in the country" the tag line for Buck-Buck-Buckalew Chevrolet in Conroe? You know, "just north of the big city prices"?

They had the little yellow chick that would hatch out of its egg, and start "cheeping", thus tying into the eggs liner?

[mkultra25 1273]

Lawrence Marshall Chevrolet, we CLOBBER big city prices!

Wasn't "Eggs and Chevrolets are 'cheep'er in the country" the tag line for Buck-Buck-Buckalew Chevrolet in Conroe? You know, "just north of the big city prices"?

They had the little yellow chick that would hatch out of its egg, and start "cheeping", thus tying into the eggs liner?

 

Buckalew might have used the line too, but Marshall definitely did. After their abrupt closure, I remember a few comments along the lines of "I guess only eggs are cheaper in the country now".

[IronTiger 921]

Yeah, the "We CLOBBER big city prices" was popular too (that I remember). They had a pretty sweet spot set up, build a massive car dealership in the middle of nowhere and attract to TWO major metropolitan areas. Too bad the industry caved in. I wonder what they're going to do to the spot as it continues to deteriorate.

[Purpledevil 290]

Huh. Well, guess both dealerships used it then. Maybe I'm crazy, but I distinctly remember the clucking chick with "Buck-Buck-Buckalew" and would've sworn they used the eggs line. A high school friend of mine had a stepmother whose maiden name was Buckalew and she hated that commercial. I guess that's what made it stick over all these years.

Keeping in the spirit of the thread, has no one noticed that McMahon Chevrolet is being torn down as we speak? You might know it by the more famous/infamous name of Landmark Chevrolet, one of two Bill Heard properties here in Houston. Located on the North Freeway between West Mt. Houston and West Gulf Bank, it was known by many in these parts as "Landshark". Drove by it today, and they have turned the showroom, the used cars building, and the little building to the showroom's direct right, into rubble. They've also stripped the asphalt off the parking lot, all the way down to the dirt. The used truck sales office and lot, across Hidden Valley, remains untouched as of today. The huge garage in back of the showroom is about halfway down, while the body shop is still standing. The two Landmark buildings closest to the Super 8 motel and Moments Cabaret have been fenced off and don't appear to be part of the demolition effort.

If you want to get your last glimpses of it, better hurry. They are bringing it down quick, fast, and in a hurry. I just drove past there on Saturday, and everything was still completely intact.

[mkultra25 1273]

Huh. Well, guess both dealerships used it then. Maybe I'm crazy, but I distinctly remember the clucking chick with "Buck-Buck-Buckalew" and would've sworn they used the eggs line. A high school friend of mine had a stepmother whose maiden name was Buckalew and she hated that commercial. I guess that's what made it stick over all these years.

 

This should look familiar, then:

 

 

Now I'm doubting my recollection, although the ad I remember didn't have the chick, and the "eggs" line was spoken by a guy with what was supposed to be a "country" accent. I can't find it anywhere, after an admittedly cursory search.

 

Keeping in the spirit of the thread, has no one noticed that McMahon Chevrolet is being torn down as we speak? You might know it by the more famous/infamous name of Landmark Chevrolet, one of two Bill Heard properties here in Houston. Located on the North Freeway between West Mt. Houston and West Gulf Bank, it was known by many in these parts as "Landshark". Drove by it today, and they have turned the showroom, the used cars building, and the little building to the showroom's direct right, into rubble. They've also stripped the asphalt off the parking lot, all the way down to the dirt. The used truck sales office and lot, across Hidden Valley, remains untouched as of today. The huge garage in back of the showroom is about halfway down, while the body shop is still standing. The two Landmark buildings closest to the Super 8 motel and Moments Cabaret have been fenced off and don't appear to be part of the demolition effort.

If you want to get your last glimpses of it, better hurry. They are bringing it down quick, fast, and in a hurry. I just drove past there on Saturday, and everything was still completely intact.

End of an era. Up until a week or two ago, I was driving right by that location several times a week. I'll have to go and have a look when I get a chance - my parents live very close by. A John Deere dealership is going up on that site, so they must finally be getting around to site prep for construction. The variance notice has been posted for quite a while on Hidden Valley.

[brhaltx 27]

The Tomball Bunch.

[Specwriter 417]

 

End of an era. Up until a week or two ago, I was driving right by that location several times a week. I'll have to go and have a look when I get a chance - my parents live very close by. A John Deere dealership is going up on that site, so they must finally be getting around to site prep for construction. The variance notice has been posted for quite a while on Hidden Valley.

 

Yea! Yea! and YEA!!! My parents also live near the McMahon/Landmark Chevrolet site. If for no other reason than it will lessen the run-off from those acres of paving I am glad to see it go. It was an awful eye-sore too.

 

So a tractor and farm implement dealership is coming in its place. That is interesting. The smaller showroom building immediately next to the motel was originally Magnusson Volkswagen. The owner was a customer of my father's as was the owner of the Datsun (Nissan) dealership across I-45 near Canino.

 

[Purpledevil 290]

ROFL!!!

YES! I knew I wasn't getting senile! It's been YEARS since I've seen that commercial, mkultra, and many thanks for tracking that down and posting it.

SImply awesome....

[Libbie 31]

There was an Okay car dealership on the Gulf Freeway (maybe across from Gulfgate?) forever!  But no more. A boy I knew asked me out on a date in about 1967. He picked me up and drove me to Okay Cars, saying that he hadn't budgeted well enough for a movie or a burger, so he just took me to stare at the cars.  He had a great time! I didn't, much.  I married somebody else.  Twenty-five years later we went to Bonnie's Beef and Seafood on the Gulf Freeway and  I looked over and saw the little "Okay" flags flapping. It still looked the same. But it's not there any more.

[JuliaBOldLady 0]

Anyone have any old photos of Frizell's Pontiac at Gulfgate?